Method of Recommending Related Programs

ABSTRACT

Method and system of recommending program without individually compiling subscribe profile information. The method and system being suitable for recommending television programs, movies, and any other media, including but not limited to advertisements and music.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of and claims priority to U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 11/451,769, filed Jun. 13, 2006, which is herebyincorporated by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to methods and systems of recommendingrelated programs, such as television shows, movies, music, images, news,articles, and any other type of media or multi-media.

Background Art

Media service providers, such as television, audio, print, and the like,distribute content to their subscribes through any number of mediums andprovide any number of user interfaces to facilitate the selection anddistribution of the same. For example, cable, satellite, and broadcasttelevision service providers may provide their subscribers with anelectronic programming guide (EPG) to facilitate searching and selectingcontent.

The EPGs are typically applications or other programs operable on atelevision operating system or other feature connected to thetelevision, such as a settop box (STB). In the future, similarcapabilities may be provided on computers, PDAs, phones, mobile mediadevices, and other elements capable of providing television or othermedia viewing. In general, the EPG includes a number of user navigablemenus through which the user may select the programs (movies, televisionshows, etc.).

As more and more content becomes available through the providers, theproviders and subscribers face challenges in locating content ofinterest. One solution relates to monitoring subscriber habits andrecommending content to them as function thereof. This, however, can beproblematic as the provider may be required to support and monitorhabits for large number of subscribers.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, one non-limiting aspect of the present invention, relatesto overcoming the above-identified problems by recommending contentlikely to be of interest to subscribers without requiring the contentprovider to individually track subscriber habits.

One non-limiting aspect of the present invention relates to recommendingcontent to the subscribers as a function of content currently accessedby the subscribers. This allows the content provider to recommendrelated content without tracking the subscribers habits.

One non-limiting aspect of the present invention relates to recommendingprogram groups to the subscribers as a function of programs highlightedor otherwise selected by the subscribers to be of interest.

The above features and advantages, along with other features andadvantages of the present invention, are readily apparent from thefollowing detailed description of the invention when taken in connectionwith the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention is pointed out with particularity in the appendedclaims. However, other features of the present invention will becomemore apparent and the present invention will be best understood byreferring to the following detailed description in conjunction with theaccompany drawings in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a system for providing media content in accordancewith one non-limiting aspect of the present invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates an electronic programming guide (EPG) in accordancewith one non-limiting aspect of the present invention;

FIG. 3 illustrates the EPG displaying an actions menu in accordance withone non-limiting aspect of the present invention; and

FIG. 4 illustrates a flowchart of a method of recommending relatedprograms in accordance with one non-limiting aspect of the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT(S)

FIG. 1 illustrates a system 10 for providing media content in accordancewith one non-limiting aspect of the present invention. The system 10 mayinclude a media provider 12 for providing media services to subscribers16-20 at one or more subscriber locations and a network 24 forfacilitating communications there between.

The media provider 12, for exemplary purpose, is most prominentlydescribed with respect to being a cable television service providerhaving capabilities for providing cable television, telecommunications,and high-speed data services to the subscriber locations, primarilythrough wireline and/or wireline communications.

The present invention, however, is not so limited and fully contemplatesthe provider being associated with any type of service provider,including other television providers (IP, broadcast, satellite, etc.)and non-television providers, such as those associated with high-speeddata, telecommunications, cellular communications, and the like.

The media provider 12 may be configured to support and/or facilitate theuse of any number of television and non-television services andapplications, such as, but not limited to, linear and non-lineartelevision programming/signaling (cable, satellite, broadcast, etc.),Video on Demand (VOD), interactive television (iTV), interactive gaming,pay-per-view (PPV), digital video recording (local and remote), andothers.

The network 24 may include any number of features and devices tofacilitate signal transportation and other operations associated withinterfacing the subscriber locations with each other and otherwisesupporting communications associated with services of the media provider12. The network 24 may include terrestrial and extraterrestrialcomponents and infrastructures, including cable lines, telephone lines,and/or satellite or other wireless architectures. The network 24 may beassociated with other private and/or public networks, such as theInternet arid dedicated or virtual private networks.

The network 24 may include one or more of network support features, suchas a headend, router, hub, switch, gateway, conditional access router(CARs), cable modem terminations system (CMTSs), network provisioningunit (NPUs), session boarder controller, media gateway, media gatewaycontroller, signaling gateway, call management server, presence server,SIP routing proxy, SIP proxy /registrar server, PCMM policy server,bandwidth on demand server, streaming server caching proxy, gamingserver, CDN, media acquisition server, provider server, a unifiedmessaging server, OSS/BSS, global directory server, digital or personalvideo recorder (DVRs, PVRs), media terminal adapter (MTA), and/or outletdigital adapter (ODA).

Each subscriber location 16-20 may include one or more media devices(not shown) to facilitate user interaction with the mediacontent/services. The scope of such interaction may be based onsubscriptions and other parameters set by the media provider. Thesubscriptions may specify various classes of services and otherparameters associated with usage rights and services available to thecorresponding subscriber.

The media devices may relate to any number of devices suitable forinterfacing and/or facilitating interfacing the subscribers. Forexample, the media devices may be a settop box (STB), digital videorecorder (DVR), personal computer (PC), television (which may includeembedded user interface and processing capabilities), outlet digitaladapter (ODA), media terminal adapter (MTA), cable modem (CM), personaldigital assistant (PDA), computer, mobile device (phone, computer,etc.), personal media device, and any other item having capabilities tosupporting access to any number of the services.

The media devices may be configured to descramble and to support and/orfacilitate the use of any number of television and non-televisionrelated signals, such as, but not limited to, Hyper Text TransferProtocol (HTTP), Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP), Syslog,Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), Trivial File TransferProtocol (TFTP), Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification(DOCSIS), Domain Name Server (DNS) applications, DOCSIS Settop Gateway(DSG), out-of-band (00B) messaging, and others.

The system 10 may be used to provide media content to one or more of thesubscribers 16-20. The media content may relate to live, on-demand, orother viewing, streaming, and/or broadcasting of signals associated withsupporting television programming, movies, audio, and other multimedia,as well as, downloading of clips or full-length versions of the same,all of which for exemplary purposes may be generally referred to asprograms.

The content sources be the media provider 12 (which in turn may receivethe content from other sources) and/or one or more of the subscriberdevices or other non-subscriber devices connected the network. Forexample, if the media provider 12 is a television service provider, aportion of the media content may relate to television programs, movies,and other multimedia packets. This content may be delivered from themedia service provider 12 to the subscribers through streaming,downloading, broadcast, peer-to-peer, and any number of other processes.

The media content may be delivered to the subscriber locations directlyfrom the media service provider and/or from one or more of the otherdevices in communication therewith. In more detail, as is common withlarger media content providers, multiple regional enterprises, such asheadend units and the like, may be configured to provide regionalprogramming to a number of subscribers associated therewith. Each of theheadends may store various types of media content for distribution tothe subscribers it services. Optionally, the headends may be configuredto support headend to headend communications such that non-directsubscribers, i.e., those supported by other headends, may similarlyreceive content from other headends.

In addition, some of the media content may be sourced from thesubscribers themselves, such as by transporting content stored locallyon the home networks of the subscribers to other locations within thesame home network and/or to other locations beyond the home network thatare in communication therewith by way of the network. The media provider12 may include features and capabilities to facilitate suchinter-subscriber communications.

Furthermore, the media content provider 12 may include software,applications, and other logic to facilitate the distribution andplayback of the media content between any of the features, devices, andelements within the system 10. In accordance with one non-limitingaspect of the present invention, the system 10 may include arecommendations element 26 to facilitate recommending media content tothe subscribers.

The recommendations element 26 may a server or other element andconfigured to include any number of features to facilitate recommendingrelated programs to the subscribers 16-20. The recommendations element26 is shown separately from the media content provider 12, however, itneed not be a standalone entity and the operations associated therewithmay be similarly performed by the media provider 12 and/or by any numberof other devices or combination of devices in the system 10.

FIG. 2 illustrates an electronic programming guide (EPG) 30 inaccordance with one non-limiting aspect of the present invention. TheEPG 30, as one having ordinary skill in the art will appreciate, is anavigable user interface through which subscribers may access variousservices of the media content provider. Commonly, the EPG 30 issupported with a STB or other processing entity at the subscriberlocation and displayed on a television, or other media access source,such as a computer, mobile phone, PDA, etc. Of course, the EPG 30 isonly one exemplary user interface and the present invention fullycontemplates the use of any type of user interface.

In operation, the media provider 12 communications EPG program detailsto the device supporting the EPG 30, which are then used by the EPGapplication to populate the menus and other interfaces associatedtherewith. The EPG program details include information and instructionsassociated with displaying, searching, navigating, and otherwisedetailing and accessing the available services/content. The EPG programdetails are periodically updated with time-spaced downloads of the EPGprogram details by the application or operating system generating theEPG.

In this manner, once the EPG software/application is loaded on to theSTB or other device supporting its operation, the EPG program detailsare thereafter periodically downloaded to update the informationdisplayed in the EPG 30. The update frequency is variable and may bedependent on the services offered to the subscriber. In this manner, theEPG program details are separate from the application or software usedby the subscriber device to display the EPG. Of course, the presentinvention is not limited to such packet or bundle based, time-spaceddownloads and fully contemplates real-time and other services where moreinteraction occurs between the EPG support device and the mediaprovider.

As shown, the EPG 30 includes a grid based structure having a number ofslots for a number of channels and time-periods. The EPG program detailsmay specify a number of program titles to be included within each of theslots in order to indicate a particular program available on thecorresponding channel for the corresponding time-slot. This arrangementis commonly used in television environments where a number of channelsare available to the subscribers and tuned to by the STB for viewing.The EPG 30, however, may be configured to display the available servicesthrough any number of interfaces and guidelines, and is not intended tobe limited to the foregoing grid-based structure.

A remote control (not show) or other feature may be included to navigatethrough the various channels and time-slots shown in the EPG 30, such asto review programs showing on other channels during other time periods.The EPG program details specify how far into the future the programs areshown. Of course, the EPG program details may specify other informationincluded within the EPG, such as programs available on-demand,advertisements, and other types of information.

Moreover, the EPG program details may specify other arrangements andformats for the

EPG 30. For example, if other non-channel/time period based services areavailable, like on-demand programming, DVR applications, audio/datadownloads, gaming, and the like, the EPG program details may specifyother menus and arrangements of the same through which the user maysimilarly navigate. These interfaces may include other parametersbesides channels and time periods.

In accordance with one non-limiting aspect of the present invention, theEPG 30 may include a recommendations menu 34. The recommendations menu30 may appear with highlighting of the slots or actuation of a remotecontrol button (not shown), and include a description portion 36 andrelated programming portion 38. The description portion 36 may be usedto provide a show description or other information associated with ahighlighted time-slot and the related programming portion 38 may be usedto indicated related programs

As shown, a Crafters Coast to Coast time-slot is highlighted and alisting of related program titles are shown in the related programmingportion 38 and a description (not provided) of Crafters Coast to Coastis shown in the description portion 36. The related programming portion383 illustrates related programs having characteristics in common orotherwise related to the highlighted program, as described below in moredetail.

Advantageously, the related programs included within the relatedprogramming group 38 are specified according to a program groupassociated with the highlighted slot. The related program groups 38 foreach slot may be embedded with the EPG program details such that theyautomatically appear with respect to the highlighted slot and without anupstream communication from the STB or other device supporting the EPG.In this manner, the displayed program group may be considered as arecommended program group. Due to display constraints, the relatedprogramming portion 38 of the recommendations menu 34 may be limited inthe number of titles it can display, such that scrolling features orother elements may be include to navigate the related programs.

FIG. 3 illustrates the EPG 30 displaying an actions menu 40 inaccordance with one non-limiting aspect of the present invention. Theactions menu 40 appears with selection of one of the programs listed inthe related programming portion 38 of the recommendations menu 34 andincludes an number of executable programming actions, including settinga recording, setting an alert, adding the selected title to a playlist,or tuning to a channel showing the program associated with the selectedtitle.

Each of the actions is executed with respect to the title selected fromthe related programming portion 38 of the recommendations menu 34, andnot the highlighted slot. In this manner, the user is able to easilyaccess the related programming and to execute actions with respectthereto. Selection of one of the programming actions may transport theuser to another interface or other feature associated with executing theoperations associated therewith.

FIG. 4 illustrates a flowchart 46 of a method of recommending relatedprograms in accordance with one non-limiting aspect of the presentinvention. The method may be embodied in a computer-readable medium orother executable file/program. One or more aspects of the method andlogic associated with performing the operations associated therewith maybe embodied in and executed according to instructions included on therecommendations server 26 and/or other feature or computer readablemedium included with the system.

Block 48 relates to determining programs available to the subscribers.The available programs may be determined according to any number ofparameters and variables, such as geographical areas or servicing areas.For example, different headends may service different areas and providedifferent programming in each area such that some programs may beavailable in one servicing area and not another. In this manner, theavailable programs are determined for subscriber groups (i.e., servicingareas) and not necessarily individual subscribers so as to limit theamount of information tracked for each subscriber, although trackingindividual subscribers is contemplated.

Optionally, each servicing area may include a programming menu or otherfeatures associated with coordinating services available to eachparticular servicing area. This menu may be consulted for upcomingprogramming and used as the basis for determining the availableprograms. For example, the programming menu may specify the availableprogram for an upcoming period of time such that the programs associatedwith that period of time may be determined as the available programs, asopposed to determining all the programs accessible to the media provider12 as being available.

As described above, the term “program” is not intended to be limited totelevision programs. The present invention fully contemplates providingany number of services to any number of subscribers and similarlyrecommending related services. For the purposes of the presentinvention, the term “program” is intended to reflect any number ofservices, including television shows, movies, music, images, news,articles, and any other type of media or multi-media available to thesubscribers. As such, each step of the method of the present inventionmay be similarly performed for any other type of media and generallycovered with the term “program.”

Block 50 relates to determining metadata characteristics for theavailable programs. The metadata characteristics represent details,information, and other data associated with each of the programs. Forexample, if the program relates to cooking, one of the metadatacharacteristics may indicate cooking, cuisine, food, etc., as acharacteristic of the program. Preferably, each program is assigned orotherwise associated with one or more metadata characteristics.

Block 52 relates to pairing each program with one or more other programshaving common or related metadata characteristics such that the pairedprograms form program groups having related metadata characteristics.For example, as shown in FIG. 2 , the program Crafters Coast to Coasthas been paired with a program group comprising DIY Kitchen, ScrapbookHeaven, and Baking and Making: Home.

Different program groups may be determined for each servicing area ofthe media provider. The program groups may be automatically determinedby the media provider at upstream locations and solely form thecharacteristics of the program, as opposed to the subscribers accessingthe programs. In this manner, the present invention is able to determineprogram groups based on the program characteristics, as opposed tosubscriber characteristics, such that same program groups may beassigned to different subscribers, as described below in more detail.

Block 54 relates to downloading the EPG program details to the EPGs ofthe various subscribers, as described above. The program groups for eachpaired program may be embedded or otherwise included with the programdetails, and optionally, downloaded with the same to each EPG supportdevice in the area supported by the particular EPG program details,i.e., subscribers in one area may receive different EPG program detailsthan subscriber in another area.

Block 56 relates to determining a recommendations request for one of theavailable programs. The recommendation requests may be automaticallydetermined in response to a user highlighting one of the slots shown inFIG. 2 such that the EPG may locate, within the EPG program details, theprogram group paired with the highlighted program. Of course, any othermechanism or logic may be used in determining the recommendationsrequest, particularly with respect to other interfaces and features usedby the subscribers to access other services.

Block 58 relates to recommending the program group associated with thehighlighted slot. This may include locating the program group anddisplaying the program titles listed therein within the recommendationsmenu shown in FIG. 2 . The recommending of the program group in thismanner functions to apprise the user of related programs that share acommon or related characteristic—with the program in the highlightedslot. Of course, the mechanism associated with making the recommendationmay vary according to the type of program being recommended and themanner in which it is accessed.

Optionally, the recommended program group may filtered or otherwisepartitioned. This may be done at the customer location (i.e., STB) or ata back office or other location associated with providing therecommendations. The filter may be used to limit the recommendedprograms as a function of availability, entitlements, or otherparameters. For example, the availability filter may restrict outprograms that are no longer available, such as if the programs have beenerased or otherwise unsuitable for retrieval from other subscriberdevices or volatile servers, and/or no longer available in a particularservicing area. The entitlement filter may similar restrict out programsthat the subscriber is not entitled to view, such as by requiring theSTB or other subscriber access point to provide a password or otherfeature in order to recommend the restricted program.

Another filtering strategy may subsequently partitioning the programgroups according to metadata content differences such that one or moreof the program groups may include a sub-program group associated with acommon content difference, i.e., a group within the group. Thesub-groups could then be partitioned along metadata content differencesand selectively displayed in the recommendation menu or otherwise.Optionally, the recommendations menu may list the subs-group titlesinstead of the program titles described above such that the user selectsone of the sub-group titles in order to display program titles for theassociated sub-group.

Such filtering, particularly at the subscriber level, as opposed to theback-office level, can be beneficial in allowing the back office orother entity generating the program groups to specify the groupsindependently of individual subscribers, i.e., as a function of theprogram data and not subscriber data, while still permitting somesubscriber specific filtering, such as by allowing the STBs or othersubscriber access nodes to filter the program groups. In this manner,one or more programs may be removed, hidden, or otherwise restrictedfrom the program groups with operations at the subscriber level.

A number of subscriber locations may receive the same EPG programdetails such that each location displays the same related programs(program groups) for the same programs such that the recommendedprograms are generic to each subscriber within a common servicing area,thereby allowing the media provider to make recommendations withoutindividually tracking subscriber habits and as a function contentcurrently accessed (highlighted) by the subscribers.

Optionally, the program groups may be used for other operations besidesdisplaying recommended content within a programming guide. For example,the program groups may be used to pre-load and prioritize contentservers and other elements associated with the subscribers such that theservers may be optimized to quickly deliver content that is believed tobe of interested to the subscribers based on its contentcharacteristics. This allows the present invention to optimize VOD,search, and other server response times by optionally pre-loading theservers with the content and/or prioritizing the server such that thecontent likely to be of interest is prioritized for delivery overcontent that is less likely to be of interest.

For example, once a subscriber selects content from a programming guide,the program group associated therewith may pre-loaded and/or prioritizedin anticipation of the subscriber selecting one of the recommendedprogram titles for further action. Search request may be processed in asimilar manner in so far as data, content, and other informationrecommended in the search request (program group) may be pre-loaded orprioritized for delivery to a server in anticipation of the subscriberselecting one of the search result titles for further action.

The present invention is predominately described with respect torecommending programs within an EPG and the mechanisms and logicassociated therewith. The present invention, however, is not intended tobe limited to programs and EPG interfaces. Rather, the present inventionfully contemplates recommending any type of information, and not justtelevision programs or movies, and doing so through any interface, andnot just EPGs, including but not limited to web pages, VOD menus,personal media menus (PDAs, mobile phones, etc.), and the like.

As required, detailed embodiments of the present invention are disclosedherein;

however, it is to be understood that the disclosed embodiments aremerely exemplary of the invention that may be embodied in various andalternative forms. The figures are not necessarily to scale, somefeatures may be exaggerated or minimized to show details of particularcomponents. Therefore, specific structural and functional detailsdisclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting, but merely as arepresentative basis for the claims and/or as a representative basis forteaching one skilled in the art to variously employ the presentinvention.

While embodiments of the invention have been illustrated and described,it is not intended that these embodiments illustrate and describe allpossible forms of the invention. Rather, the words used in thespecification are words of description rather than limitation, and it isunderstood that various changes may be made without departing from thespirit and scope of the invention.

1. A method comprising: receiving, by a computing device, at least oneindication of an association between a first content asset, of a firstplurality of content assets, and a second plurality of content assets,wherein the association is based on a topic that is associated with thefirst content asset and the second plurality of content assets; causingoutput of identifiers of the first plurality of content assets; andbased on an input received from a user, simultaneously invoking:highlighting of an un-highlighted identifier of the first content asset;output of a description of the first content asset, output of anidentifier of at least a second content asset of the second plurality ofcontent assets, and output of a menu comprising a plurality of actionsthat are executable with respect to the at least the second contentasset.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of executableactions comprise at least one of: setting a recording of the at leastthe second content asset; setting an alert for the at least the secondcontent asset; adding the at least the second content asset to aplaylist; or tuning to a channel showing the at least the second contentasset.
 3. The method of claim 1, further comprising: partitioning, intosubgroups and based on content differences, the second plurality ofcontent assets, and wherein the simultaneously invoking furthercomprises causing output of subgroup titles corresponding to thesubgroups.
 4. The method of claim 1, further comprising: filtering,based on an entitlement associated with the computing device, at leastone content asset of the second plurality of content assets.
 5. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising: updating at least one identifierof the second plurality of content assets to provide differentidentifiers corresponding to different second pluralities of contentassets as indications of user interest in different content assets arereceived.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first content asset andthe second plurality of content assets are associated prior to receivingthe at least one indication.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the firstcontent asset and the second plurality of content assets are associatedbased on factors excluding tracked user habits.
 8. The method of claim1, wherein the user is associated with the computing device, wherein theuser belongs to a first user group that is determined based on ageographical location of the user, and wherein the association isdetermined based on the first user group.
 9. One or more non-transitorycomputer-readable media storing instructions that, when executed, cause:receiving, by a computing device, at least one indication of anassociation between a first content asset, of a first plurality ofcontent assets, and a second plurality of content assets, wherein theassociation is based on a topic that is associated with the firstcontent asset and the second plurality of content assets; causing outputof identifiers of the first plurality of content assets; and based on aninput received from a user, simultaneously invoking: highlighting of anun-highlighted identifier of the first content asset; output of adescription of the first content asset, output of an identifier of atleast a second content asset of the second plurality of content assets,and output of a menu comprising a plurality of actions that areexecutable with respect to the at least the second content asset. 10.The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 9,wherein the plurality of executable actions comprise at least one of:setting a recording of the at least the second content asset; setting analert for the at least the second content asset; adding the at least thesecond content asset to a playlist; or tuning to a channel showing theat least the second content asset.
 11. The one or more non-transitorycomputer-readable media of claim 9, wherein the instructions, whenexecuted, further cause: partitioning, into subgroups and based oncontent differences, the second plurality of content assets, and whereinthe instructions, when executed, cause the simultaneously invoking bycausing output of subgroup titles corresponding to the subgroups. 12.The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 9,wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause: filtering, basedon an entitlement associated with the computing device, at least onecontent asset of the second plurality of content assets.
 13. The one ormore non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 9, wherein theinstructions, when executed, further cause: updating at least oneidentifier of the second plurality of content assets to providedifferent identifiers corresponding to different second pluralities ofcontent assets as indications of user interest in different contentassets are received.
 14. The one or more non-transitorycomputer-readable media of claim 9, wherein the first content asset andthe second plurality of content assets are associated prior to receivingthe at least one indication.
 15. The one or more non-transitorycomputer-readable media of claim 9, wherein the first content asset andthe second plurality of content assets are associated based on factorsexcluding tracked user habits.
 16. The one or more non-transitorycomputer-readable media of claim 9, wherein the user is associated withthe computing device, wherein the user belongs to a first user groupthat is determined based on a geographical location of the user, andwherein the association is determined based on the first user group. 17.An apparatus comprising: one or more processors; and memory storinginstructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, causethe apparatus to: receive at least one indication of an associationbetween a first content asset, of a first plurality of content assets,and a second plurality of content assets, wherein the association isbased on a topic that is associated with the first content asset and thesecond plurality of content assets; cause output of identifiers of thefirst plurality of content assets; and based on an input received from auser, simultaneously invoke: highlighting of an un-highlightedidentifier of the first content asset; output of a description of thefirst content asset, output of an identifier of at least a secondcontent asset of the second plurality of content assets, and output of amenu comprising a plurality of actions that are executable with respectto the at least the second content asset.
 18. The apparatus of claim 17,wherein the plurality of executable actions comprise at least one of:setting a recording of the at least the second content asset; setting analert for the at least the second content asset; adding the at least thesecond content asset to a playlist; or tuning to a channel showing theat least the second content asset.
 19. The apparatus of claim 17,wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors,further cause the apparatus to: partition, into subgroups and based oncontent differences, the second plurality of content assets, and whereinthe instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause theapparatus to simultaneously invoke by causing output of subgroup titlescorresponding to the subgroups.
 20. The apparatus of claim 17, whereinthe instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, furthercause the apparatus to: filter, based on an entitlement associated withthe apparatus, at least one content asset of the second plurality ofcontent assets.
 21. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the instructions,when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the apparatusto: update at least one identifier of the second plurality of contentassets to provide different identifiers corresponding to differentsecond pluralities of content assets as indications of user interest indifferent content assets are received.
 22. The apparatus of claim 17,wherein the first content asset and the second plurality of contentassets are associated prior to receiving the at least one indication.23. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the first content asset and thesecond plurality of content assets are associated based on factorsexcluding tracked user habits.
 24. The apparatus of claim 17, whereinthe user is associated with the apparatus, wherein the user belongs to afirst user group that is determined based on a geographical location ofthe user, and wherein the association is determined based on the firstuser group.
 25. A system comprising: a first computing device; and asecond computing device, wherein the first computing device isconfigured to: receive at least one indication of an association betweena first content asset, of a first plurality of content assets, and asecond plurality of content assets, wherein the association is based ona topic that is associated with the first content asset and the secondplurality of content assets; cause output of identifiers of the firstplurality of content assets; and based on an input received from a user,simultaneously invoke: highlighting of an un-highlighted identifier ofthe first content asset; output of a description of the first contentasset, output of an identifier of at least a second content asset of thesecond plurality of content assets, and output of a menu comprising aplurality of actions that are executable with respect to the at leastthe second content asset, and wherein the second computing device isconfigured to send the at least one indication.
 26. The system of claim25, wherein the plurality of executable actions comprise at least oneof: setting a recording of the at least the second content asset;setting an alert for the at least the second content asset; adding theat least the second content asset to a playlist; or tuning to a channelshowing the at least the second content asset.
 27. The system of claim25, wherein the first computing device is further configured to:partition, into subgroups and based on content differences, the secondplurality of content assets, and wherein the first computing device isconfigured to: simultaneously invoke by causing output of subgrouptitles corresponding to the subgroups.
 28. The system of claim 25,wherein the first computing device is further configured to: filter,based on an entitlement associated with the first computing device, atleast one content asset of the second plurality of content assets. 29.The system of claim 25, wherein the first computing device is furtherconfigured to: update at least one identifier of the second plurality ofcontent assets to provide different identifiers corresponding todifferent second pluralities of content assets as indications of userinterest in different content assets are received.
 30. The system ofclaim 25, wherein the first content asset and the second plurality ofcontent assets are associated prior to receiving the at least oneindication.
 31. The system of claim 25, wherein the first content assetand the second plurality of content assets are associated based onfactors excluding tracked user habits.
 32. The system of claim 25,wherein the user is associated with the first computing device, whereinthe user belongs to a first user group that is determined based on ageographical location of the user, and wherein the association isdetermined based on the first user group.